A BILL to amend and reenact §55-7-22 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to clarifying that reasonable and
proportionate force may be used to protect one's self or
another from an intruder or attacker while lawfully in one's
residence or that of another; codifying the common law
doctrine that a lawful occupant within a home or residence has
no duty to retreat from an intruder or attacker; clarifying
that the use of reasonable and proportionate force, including
deadly force, may be used against an intruder or attacker by
one not engaged in unlawful activity in any place other than
a home or residence where the person reasonably believes the
intruder or attacker intends to kill or inflict serious bodily
harm; establishing that use of reasonable and proportionate force to defend oneself is a full and complete defense civilly
to an action brought by an intruder or attacker based upon the
use of such force; and exceptions.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §55-7-22 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:ARTICLE 7. ACTIONS FOR INJURIES.

(a) A lawful occupant within a home or other place of
residence is justified in using reasonable and proportionate force,
including deadly force, against an intruder or attacker to prevent
a forcible entry into the home or residence or to terminate the
intruder's or attacker's unlawful entry if the occupant reasonably
apprehends that the intruder or attacker may kill or inflict
serious bodily harm upon the occupant or others in the home or
residence or if the occupant reasonably believes that the intruder
or attacker intends to commit a felony in the home or residence and
the occupant reasonably believes deadly force is necessary.
(b)A lawful occupant within a home or other place of
residence does not have a duty to retreat from an intruder or
attacker in the circumstances described in subsection (a) of this
section.
(c) A person not engaged in unlawful activity who is attacked
in any place he or she has a legal right to be outside of his or her home or residence may use reasonable and proportionate force
against an intruder or attacker: Provided, That such person may use
deadly force against an intruder or attacker in a place that is not
his or her residence without a duty to retreat if the person
reasonably believes that he or she or another is in imminent danger
of death or serious bodily harm from which he or she or another can
only be saved by the use of deadly force against the intruder or
attacker.
(d) The justified use of reasonable and proportionate force
under this section shall constitute a full and complete defense to
any civil action brought by an intruder or attacker against a
person using such force.
(e) The full and complete civil defense created by the
provisions of this section is not available to a person who:
(1) Is attempting to commit, committing or escaping from the
commission of a felony;
(2) Initially provokes the use of force against himself,
herself or another with the intent to use such force as an excuse
to inflict bodily harm upon the assailant; or
(3) Otherwise initially provokes the use of force against
himself, herself or another, unless he or she withdraws from
physical contact with the assailant and indicates clearly to the
assailant that he or she desires to withdraw and terminate the use
of force, but the assailant continues or resumes the use of force.
(f) The provisions of this section do not apply to the
creation of a hazardous or dangerous condition on or in any real or personal property designed to prevent criminal conduct or cause
injury to a person engaging in criminal conduct.
(g) Nothing in this section shall authorize or justify a
person to resist or obstruct a law-enforcement officer acting in
the course of his or her duty.

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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the use of
proportionate force by a person in any place the person has a legal
right to be against an intruder or attacker. The bill also
provides that the use of proportionate force is a full defense
civilly in an action brought by an intruder or attacker against an
occupant resisting with reasonable and proportionate force.)

Section 22 has been completely rewritten; therefore,
strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.